There were multiple factors that made up the perfect storm that lead to the as I call it Pearl Harbour event of the ban.

1] The pistol applications went from 1 to over 1000[?] plus within a matter of 3 months,post the high court challenge, and AGS was utterly overwhelmed by this decision and demand. They didn't know, and didn't want to know how to deal with this as it was the first major challenge to their absolute power on firearms issues.

2] We did ourselves no favours either. The notorious IPSC pistol shooting demo of lads going full tilt boogie doing rapid-fire drills and off swinging platforms scared the bejazayus out of the AGS who were invited to this and ministerial staff from the DOJ.
On a follow onto this...the body governing IPSC here at the time gave no thought to a fallback position of having practical shotgun or rifle events as well.It was pistols or nothing.

3] Yes there was disdain for practical disciplines and pistol shooting here. Even on boards!! A certain mod and a certain individual had regular and bloody battles here about the topic in the early days;)
It was vilified by a certain then head of a very large Irish shooting organisation after an article appeared about it in the Irish shooter's digest, along with numerous Fudds adding their 2 cents worth in the letters column.

4] Lord baron Gym Shortt of Castleshort, Castlebellingham Co Louth. Supreme Walt almighty. This plank was apparently running bodyguard courses with Irish participation up in his stately manse in Louth.

There is a whole unbelievable tale about this character and I'd suggest reading up about it on the UK website Army Rumour Service or[ www.Arrse.co.uk] under the form "Walts".It is over 20 pages long and a laugh a minute on how this chancer fooled Govts and military the world over...But we digress... Co Louth happened the time to be the constituency of one of the most anti-gun Fianna Fail TDs called Dermot Aherne, who then became minister for Justice and a zealot with a mission.:mad: So having a chancer like that in his constituency...Well, you can guess the outcome...

Aherne even said that in May 2006 at the Assoc of Garda Sgts and Inspectors AGM that he would "tighten up on licensing of firearms in Ireland to prevent a "US-style gun culture"[Whatever the Hell that is!]

That should have sounded "General quarters and man battle stations!" in the Irish firearms owners ship...There should have been phone calls, letters, emails blizzards, questions raised in the Dail about the minister's comments and plans by our orgs...We got...Crickets!Apart from the usual appendage measuring between those in control from back then:mad:

I remember one comment here on boards/shooting that summed up the attitude perfectly "Shure the ass has just fallen out of the economy. He'll have more important things to worry about than us!":mad:

The murder of an innocent in Limerick, with an illegal firearm, on orders of a coked-up drug dealer, was his cynical coat peg to hang us legit shooters in a "Pearl harbour" style attack that set Irish shooting back again by another decade and devastated us in the fact we are the only nation on earth that has banned an internationally recognised sport:mad:

The rest they say is history...:rolleyes:

tudderone wrote: »

The gas thing is, anyone who is or was serious about practical, can take a spin across the border and tip on, its huge up there, and the PTB have zero issue with it.

Yes,and this is why I keep suggesting that we try and get an "Irish" version of it going around now,as we actually have a Chief Commissioner who comes from a police force that is well acquainted with "combat training" and a sport disipline. Its a decade past and all the political and police figures have gone,so it is more or less a fresh sheet.

Ah yes the kinky leather jacket with fifteen straps, elbow pads, blinkered specs and special gloves to launch a .22 bullet 50 meters, brigade. They didn't like it in our club either, but i didn't see a stampede of newbies rushing to get involved with target rifle either, quite the reverse.

Not helping by their other lot blundering in and demanding that only "Olympic style pistols "in .22 should be exempt with their 5 shot mags:mad: THE main reason we are stuck with 5 shot revolvers and .22 5 shot mags,this idea took root in the PTB, and it was another bloody battle to convince all and sundry that list of approved pistols would be outdated within 12 months. Mor of the usual "Fk U I'm all right and MY particular discipline is more important than yours!" attitude that screws us here:mad::rolleyes: